I’m Happy is a short film by (and starring) Michael Neithardt, who is also executive producer, new business at Psyop. It recently had its world premiere at Tropfest NY in Bryant Park.
Shot in Barcelona, Southern Spain, Southern France and Long Island, NY, the film is the story of a young man who has a heart attack, forcing him to come to terms with the regrets of his life. It explores the conversation in his mind during these his final moments. One part tone-poem, one part dream-scape, the man journeys through an exploration within his own mind and ultimately has to acknowledge the lies he has been telling himself all along.
“Too many people are just walking around, going through the motions of living but not actually doing so,” said Neithardt on the theme of the film. “They wind up in some dead end job, move somewhere they don’t even want to be and give up on all the things they love to do. The idea of becoming that person scares the shit out of me. So ‘What If?’ What if that person suddenly died prematurely? What would be the conversation in that person’s mind in their final moments? This is what I explore in ‘I’m Happy’. I want to inspire people to have this conversation with themselves before it is in fact too late.”
The film was a bit of a family project for Neithardt. Excluding the opening and closing shots, which Neithardt’s father Steve Neithardt drove the camera car for, the whole film was shot on location with just Neithardt’s wife, Vanessa, and their 22-month-old son, Beckett–whom Michael jokingly refers to as his “PA.”
SUPERLATIVE Signs Director Claudia Abend For Spots and Branded Content
Latin American director/editor and documentary filmmaker Claudia Abend has joined SUPERLATIVE for her first U.S. representation spanning commercials and branded content.
Abend's empathetic docu-style POV has garnered several international awards for the documentary films Hit (2008) and The Flower of Life (2018). Her spotmaking credits include such brands as Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. SUPERLATIVE has already worked with Abend, together producing a new ad campaign for digital agency Tinuiti and The Honest Company, a consumer goods corporation featuring eco-minded products.
“We found Claudia through her poignant documentaries on the festival circuit,” said SUPERLATIVE creative manager Stefan Dezil. “We are excited about her textured narratives, emotional storytelling, and her powerhouse long-form storytelling abilities, currently on her third feature film. As SUPERLATIVE continues to build our brand after premiering our latest films at Sundance and SXSW, Claudia is the kind of multidimensional artist we are excited to partner with on branded content and beyond. Fluent in English and Spanish, her reel shows real prowess with infants, food and skin products, families both young and old. Great visual storytelling and inspirational doc work.”
Abend began her career in her native Uruguay, studying film and editing in college. “My dad would show me films like Citizen Kane,” she said. “I love cinema and became an editor. It was here that I learned all about communicating human emotion.”
From the get-go, Abend hit it big as a documentary director, teaming with Adrianna Loeff on Hit, a movie chronicling pop artists of Uruguayan music. Abend took home a Best Editing... Read More